As used in this article, the following terms have the
following definitions:

(1) "Ballot issue" means a constitutional amendment, special
levy, bond issue, local option referendum, municipal charter or
revision, an increase or decrease of corporate limits or any other
question that is placed before the voters for a binding decision.

(2) "Billboard Advertisement" means a commercially available
outdoor advertisement, sign or similar display regularly available
for lease or rental to advertise a person, place or product.

(3) "Broadcast, cable or satellite communication" means a
communication that is publicly distributed by a television station,
radio station, cable television system or satellite system.

(4) "Candidate" means an individual who:

(A) Has filed a certificate of announcement under section
seven, article five of this chapter or a municipal charter;

(B) Has filed a declaration of candidacy under section
twenty-three, article five of this chapter;

(C) Has been named to fill a vacancy on a ballot; or

(D) Has declared a write-in candidacy or otherwise publicly
declared his or her intention to seek nomination or election for
any state, district, county or municipal office or party office to
be filled at any primary, general or special election.

(5) "Candidate's committee" means a political committee
established with the approval of or in cooperation with a candidate or a prospective candidate to explore the possibilities of seeking
a particular office or to support or aid his or her nomination or
election to an office in an election cycle. If a candidate directs
or influences the activities of more than one active committee in
a current campaign, those committees shall be considered one
committee for the purpose of contribution limits.

(6) "Clearly identified" means that the name, nickname,
photograph, drawing or other depiction of the candidate appears or
the identity of the candidate is otherwise apparent through an
unambiguous reference, such as "the Governor", "your Senator" or
"the incumbent" or through an unambiguous reference to his or her
status as a candidate, such as "the Democratic candidate for
Governor" or "the Republican candidate for Supreme Court of
Appeals".

(7) "Contribution" means a gift, subscription, loan,
assessment, payment for services, dues, advance, donation, pledge,
contract, agreement, forbearance or promise of money or other
tangible thing of value, whether conditional or legally
enforceable, or a transfer of money or other tangible thing of
value to a person, made for the purpose of influencing the
nomination, election or defeat of a candidate. An offer or tender
of a contribution is not a contribution if expressly and
unconditionally rejected or returned. A contribution does not
include volunteer personal services provided without compensation:
Provided, That a nonmonetary contribution is to be considered at fair market value for reporting requirements and contribution
limitations.

(8) "Corporate political action committee" means a political
action committee that is a separate segregated fund of a
corporation that may only accept contributions from its restricted
group as outlined by the rules of the State Election Commission.

(A) Costs charged by a vendor, including, but not limited to,
studio rental time, compensation of staff and employees, costs of
video or audio recording media and talent, material and printing
costs and postage; or

(B) The cost of air time on broadcast, cable or satellite
radio and television stations, the costs of disseminating printed
materials, studio time, use of facilities and the charges for a
broker to purchase air time.

(10) "Disclosure date" means either of the following:

(A) The first date during any calendar year on which any
electioneering communication is disseminated after the person
paying for the communication has spent a total of $5,000 or more
for the direct costs of purchasing, producing or disseminating
electioneering communications; or

(B) Any other date during that calendar year after any
previous disclosure date on which the person has made additional
expenditures totaling $5,000 or more for the direct costs of purchasing, producing or disseminating electioneering
communications.

(11) "Election" means any primary, general or special election
conducted under the provisions of this code or under the charter of
any municipality at which the voters nominate or elect candidates
for public office. For purposes of this article, each primary,
general, special or local election constitutes a separate election.
This definition is not intended to modify or abrogate the
definition of the term "nomination" as used in this article.

(12) (A) "Electioneering communication" means any paid
communication made by broadcast, cable or satellite signal, mass
mailing, telephone bank, billboard advertisement or published in
any newspaper, magazine or other periodical that:

(i) Refers to a clearly identified candidate for Governor,
Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Auditor,
Commissioner of Agriculture, Supreme Court of Appeals or the
Legislature;

(ii) Is publicly disseminated within:

(I) Thirty days before a primary election at which the
nomination for office sought by the candidate is to be determined;
or

(II) Sixty days before a general or special election at which
the office sought by the candidate is to be filled; and

(iii) Is targeted to the relevant electorate: Provided, That
for purposes of the general election of 2008 the amendments to this article are effective October 1, 2008.

(B) "Electioneering communication" does not include:

(i) A news story, commentary or editorial disseminated through
the facilities of any broadcast, cable or satellite television or
radio station, newspaper, magazine or other periodical publication
not owned or controlled by a political party, political committee
or candidate: Provided, That a news story disseminated through a
medium owned or controlled by a political party, political
committee or candidate is nevertheless exempt if the news is:

(I) A bona fide news account communicated in a publication of
general circulation or through a licensed broadcasting facility;
and

(II) Is part of a general pattern of campaign-related news
that gives reasonably equal coverage to all opposing candidates in
the circulation, viewing or listening area;

(ii) Activity by a candidate committee, party executive
committee or caucus committee, or a political action committee that
is required to be reported to the State Election Commission or the
Secretary of State as an expenditure pursuant to section five of
this article or the rules of the State Election Commission or the
Secretary of State promulgated pursuant to such provision:
Provided, That independent expenditures by a party executive
committee or caucus committee or a political action committee
required to be reported pursuant to subsection (b), section two of
this article are not exempt from the reporting requirements of this section;

(iii) A candidate debate or forum conducted pursuant to rules
adopted by the State Election Commission or the Secretary of State
or a communication promoting that debate or forum made by or on
behalf of its sponsor;

(iv) A communication paid for by any organization operating
under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986;

(v) A communication made while the Legislature is in session
which, incidental to promoting or opposing a specific piece of
legislation pending before the Legislature, urges the audience to
communicate with a member or members of the Legislature concerning
that piece of legislation;

(vi) A statement or depiction by a membership organization, in
existence prior to the date on which the individual named or
depicted became a candidate, made in a newsletter or other
communication distributed only to bona fide members of that
organization;

(vii) A communication made solely for the purpose of
attracting public attention to a product or service offered for
sale by a candidate or by a business owned or operated by a
candidate which does not mention an election, the office sought by
the candidate or his or her status as a candidate; or

(viii) A communication, such as a voter's guide, which refers
to all of the candidates for one or more offices, which contains no
appearance of endorsement for or opposition to the nomination or election of any candidate and which is intended as nonpartisan
public education focused on issues and voting history.

(13) "Expressly advocating" means any communication that:

(A) Uses phrases such as "vote for the Governor", "re-elect
your Senator", "support the Democratic nominee for Supreme Court",
"cast your ballot for the Republican challenger for House of
Delegates", "Smith for House", "Bob Smith in '04", "vote Pro-Life"
or "vote Pro-Choice" accompanied by a listing of clearly identified
candidates described as Pro-Life or Pro-Choice, "vote against Old
Hickory", "defeat" accompanied by a picture of one or more
candidates, "reject the incumbent";

(B) Communications of campaign slogans or individual words,
that can have no other reasonable meaning than to urge the election
or defeat of one or more clearly identified candidates, such as
posters, bumper stickers, advertisements, etc., which say "Smith's
the One", "Jones '06", "Baker", etc; or

(C) Is susceptible of no reasonable interpretation other than
as an appeal to vote for or against a specific candidate.

(14) "Financial agent" means any individual acting for and by
himself or herself, or any two or more individuals acting together
or cooperating in a financial way to aid or take part in the
nomination or election of any candidate for public office, or to
aid or promote the success or defeat of any political party at any
election.

(15) "Fund-raising event" means an event such as a dinner, reception, testimonial, cocktail party, auction or similar affair
through which contributions are solicited or received by such means
as the purchase of a ticket, payment of an attendance fee or by the
purchase of goods or services.

(16) "Independent expenditure" means an expenditure by a
person:

(A) Expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly
identified candidate; and

(B) That is not made in concert or cooperation with or at the
request or suggestion of such candidate, his or her agents, the
candidate's authorized political committee or a political party
committee or its agents.

Supporting or opposing the election of a clearly identified
candidate includes supporting or opposing the candidates of a
political party. An expenditure which does not meet the criteria
for an independent expenditure is considered a contribution.

(17) "Mass mailing" means a mailing by United States mail,
facsimile or electronic mail of more than five hundred pieces of
mail matter of an identical or substantially similar nature within
any thirty-day period. For purposes of this subdivision,
"substantially similar" includes communications that contain
substantially the same template or language, but vary in
nonmaterial respects such as communications customized by the
recipient's name, occupation or geographic location.

(18) "Membership organization" means a group that grants bona fide rights and privileges, such as the right to vote, to elect
officers or directors and the ability to hold office, to its
members and which uses a majority of its membership dues for
purposes other than political purposes. "Membership organization"
does not include organizations that grant membership upon receiving
a contribution.

(19) "Name" means the full first name, middle name or initial,
if any, and full legal last name of an individual and the full name
of any association, corporation, committee or other organization of
individuals, making the identity of any person who makes a
contribution apparent by unambiguous reference.

(20) "Person" means an individual, corporation, partnership,
committee, association and any other organization or group of
individuals.

(21) "Political action committee" means a committee organized
by one or more persons for the purpose of supporting or opposing
the nomination or election of one or more candidates. The
following are types of political action committees:

(A) A corporate political action committee, as that term is
defined by subdivision (8) of this section;

(B) A membership organization, as that term is defined by
subdivision(18) of this section;

(C) An unaffiliated political action committee, as that term
is defined by subdivision (29) of this section.

(22) "Political committee" means any candidate committee, political action committee or political party committee.

(23) "Political party" means a political party as that term is
defined by section eight, article one of this chapter or any
committee established, financed, maintained or controlled by the
party, including any subsidiary, branch or local unit thereof and
including national or regional affiliates of the party.

(24) "Political party committee" means a committee established
by a political party or political party caucus for the purposes of
engaging in the influencing of the election, nomination or defeat
of a candidate in any election.

(25) "Political purposes" means supporting or opposing the
nomination, election or defeat of one or more candidates or the
passage or defeat of a ballot issue, supporting the retirement of
the debt of a candidate or political committee or the
administration or activities of an established political party or
an organization which has declared itself a political party and
determining the advisability of becoming a candidate under the
precandidacy financing provisions of this chapter.

(26) "Targeted to the relevant electorate" means a
communication which refers to a clearly identified candidate for
statewide office or the Legislature and which can be received by
one hundred forty thousand or more individuals in the state in the
case of a candidacy for statewide office, eight thousand two
hundred twenty or more individuals in the district in the case of
a candidacy for the State Senate and two thousand four hundred ten or more individuals in the district in the case of a candidacy for
the House of Delegates.

(27) "Telephone bank" means telephone calls that are targeted
to the relevant electorate, other than telephone calls made by
volunteer workers, regardless of whether paid professionals
designed the telephone bank system, developed calling instructions
or trained volunteers.

(28) "Two-year election cycle" means the twenty-four month
period that begins the day after a general election and ends on the
day of the subsequent general election.

(29) "Unaffiliated political action committee" means a
political action committee that is not affiliated with a
corporation or a membership organization.
Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2014 1st Special Session
The WV Code Online is an unofficial copy of the annotated WV Code, provided as a convenience. It has NOT been edited for publication, and is not in any way official or authoritative.